Helium may be recovered from a natural gas stream. For a natural gas stream with a high loading of acid gas, a conventional acid gas removal process to remove carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide may be preceded by a membrane process, with hydrocarbon gas, acid gas, and helium in the natural gas stream separated into a low pressure permeate stream and a high pressure residual stream. The low pressure permeate stream, rich in acid gas, is typically provided to a sulfur recovery unit. The high pressure residual stream, lean in acid gas, is usually subjected to a conventional acid gas removal process, such as an amine absorption process, and followed by a helium recovery process. Thus, helium recovery is limited by the amount of helium in the residual stream.